Delegate: Ms. Van Houte
14. Ms.Van Houte (Netherlands), speaking as her delegation’s youth representative, said that it was very disappointing to see that General Assembly resolutions on youth adopted in recent years had virtually no effect. It was also unfortunate that few delegations had youth representatives, since they could bring the problems confronting young people to the attention of the General Assembly in a more effective and balanced way. Young people had a keen interest in political decision-making and could make a valuable contribution to policy formulation in both the public and private sectors.
15. The report on the second session of the World Youth Forum (A/52/80) contained many useful recommendations on issues relating to young people. Of particular importance was the recommendation to appoint a special rapporteur on youth rights in order to promote the implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond. Too little was being done in response to important initiatives like the World Youth Forum. Yet, the recommendations made by young people were fully relevant to the work of United Nations bodies.
16. More and more private companies were taking account of the social and political situations of the countries in which they were working. That was of great importance to youth and other non-governmental organizations since it could involve young people in companies’ internal discussions. Both sides could benefit from such exchanges of ideas. There were many opportunities for youth organizations in the area of unemployment. The youth sections of trade unions were well aware of the needs and desires of unemployed young people and were perhaps best placed to put forward proposals in that regard. Such a dialogue could be conducted at a number of levels, with the United Nations and its specialized agencies playing a role.
17. Participation by young people in the United Nations system was a very important issue. The World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth should address the issue of including youth representatives in national delegations to the General Assembly; and special arrangements should be made to ensure coordination between the Conference and the World Youth Forum so that all participating youth organizations could effectively participate in the follow-up.
UN Doc.: A/C.3/52/SR.3
Cite as:
UN Doc.: A/C.3/52/SR.3, 13 October 1997, p. 4, Youth Delegate Search: https://youthdelegatesearch.org/netherlands-1997/, doi: 10.17176/20221018-195204-0.